


Buried

by HelenaHermione



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Angst and Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-04-08
Updated: 2011-12-12
Packaged: 2017-10-17 18:10:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 17,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/179737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HelenaHermione/pseuds/HelenaHermione
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Captain Jack is buried--not much more to it; or is there?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Buried

**Author's Note:**

> Originally published on an RP forum, (just one post) republished here--hopefully it might grow into a bigger story, and I might add more characters to it. For now, though, it is just a one-piece.

He was buried beneath the earth.

His long-lost brother had stabbed him. And his beloved partner--the friend he had once trusted before they became so wrapped up in destroying each other as a part of the Time Agency--threw in the ring and the dirt.

He closed his eyes, and let himself be buried because that was all he could do--flinching as the clods of dirt hit his face. The ring rested on his chest, and he eventually clutched it, thinking to himself that it meant something, even though he couldn't quite figure out what--maybe it had a tracer signal?

In any case, he slipped it onto his finger as soon as he could, for it offered him the chance to be discovered. But this was it as far as he was concerned.

After everything that he had gone through, to spend eternity at the bottom of a hole--was this how he wanted to live and die? For every time that he tried to dig himself out with his handcuffed hands, he would be buried again, pressed down into the earth with the weight of the soil above him.

There was no way to escape the cycle; live, breathe in dirt, dig, be buried, die. He could not escape. Trapped and bound, hands and legs, beneath the earth--

And what was worse--to be buried so long ago...he was in Cardiff, yes, literally _in_ Cardiff's soil, but it was Cardiff before it was properly established. 27 A.D., almost 2,000 years before he was put in charge of Torchwood Three's team.

How could he do this? How could he survive that long? 2,000 years...2,000 years from now, Torchwood Three would be dealing with the aftermath of John Hart's destruction of the city, and he couldn't do anything about it.

He couldn't help them. And he certainly couldn't help himself, trapped here like this--it hurt too much.

Jack tried to calm himself down, telling himself that it would hurt less if he let himself die--without struggling too much. But it was no use; he struggled, thinking about Gray. How he wanted to destroy him for everything he had done to himself and his team, and how he wanted to love him and forgive him for what he had done, after losing him so many years ago.

John--why did he have to do this, why did he have to destroy everything Jack held dear? Well--attached to a bomb, and basically forced to do anything that Gray wanted him to do...but still, it hurt Jack to see John reduced to _this_.

And his team--Tosh, Owen, Gwen, Ianto--all of them, what were they doing without him? He couldn't imagine how they would be able to handle everything without him, with him gone, but then again, they were a pretty capable team. He was proud of them for everything they had done in the past; even their goof-ups had a way of fixing themselves up.

Yet even though he could forgive them of just about anything by now, he could not forgive himself for abandoning them--no matter the circumstances. They would have a long, uphill battle ahead of them without him there--with John, and with Gray to contend with.

How many hours? How many days? How many months, how many years, since he had been buried?

He could not figure it--if he died 10, 20, or 100 times during a day, it was still a long way ahead of him. If there was anything ahead of him--except for this.

He just kept digging.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, slightly depressing, but will have more if I get time to do a story...


	2. Excavated

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Captain Jack is saved--but who by?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, here is the second chapter I finally got around to doing--I decided to go ahead and do this because I felt like I wanted to explore this topic more, and the repercussions of 'mixing things up' a little bit more. I thought about who I wanted to 'pick up' Jack, and, well, this seemed the most logical choice--or the best choice at this point. I thought it would be interesting to see his reactions.

**2\. Excavated**

**  
**

“Amy, you’re going to love Maui,” The Doctor was saying as he typed out the coordinates of their next destination into the TARDIS’s navigation banks. “The beaches, the sand, the surf, the coconut shells, the--palm springs--”

 

“Palm Springs?” Amy raised her eyebrows as she sat in the chair. “Isn’t that in Florida?” She said with a smirk and then a laugh.

 

“Ah, right, Palm Springs—well, I got that one wrong, but not the one we’re going to.” He said. “We’re going to Maui—if I can get this thing to work right...” He whipped over to the ‘mechanical’ side and started checking out the problem. “We need to make an adjustment. Amy, check the viewer screen, and make sure we don’t run into a problem.”

 

“We always run into problems,” She said, getting up and going over to the viewer screen.

 

“Nonsense, I’m always careful,” The Doctor said to her, running around to head downstairs.

 

“Of all the nerve--” Amy said to herself, but before she could reply to him, she stopped. “Doctor, you should come see this.”

 

“What is it? Is it something important?” He said from below.

 

“Uh...I don’t know.” She said, trying to adjust the image. “It’s a blip.”

 

Something clattered below. “Big blip or little blip?” He asked.

 

“Uh...little blip, I guess you could say.” She said. “Coming through on the Time Vortex--it’s a signal, or radar of some kind.”

 

“Mm-hmm.” He said, fixing something (with the sonic screwdriver probably stuck in his mouth) as he started humming to himself.

 

“It doesn’t seem too big, but—TARDIS caught it,” She said, trying to adjust the image again to get more information. “Might be something important. Looks like it’s coming from underground.”

 

“Oh, really?” He said, popping off something below.

 

“And--it’s in Cardiff?” She said.

 

“Cardiff!” The Doctor’s head popped up from below.

 

“Yeah, Cardiff, Wales—although it’s not too recent,” She said, checking the time signature as the Doctor ran over to join her. “Actually, it’s where Cardiff is supposed to be in a couple years’ time, as this blip is in--42 AD, or CE, whatever, Cardiff has not even been built yet.”

 

“Cardiff—in 42 AD...do you suppose Jack will be there?” He asked Amy. “Although it is usually where Jack will be found.”

 

“Uh...Doctor, who is Jack?” Amy asked.

 

“Jack—you mean you haven’t met Jack yet? I thought you had. I thought I had introduced you two—no, that was Winston Churchill...”

 

“I’ve never met Jack, or anybody by that name with you, and I think I would have remembered if I had.” She said.

 

“Oh, of course you would have remembered Jack, if you had met him, but—have you been drinking lately?”

 

“What?” She asked.

 

“Or do you remember getting drunk late one night, and then waking up the next morning feeling like you had no idea of how you had spent your evening, or had forgotten something very important?”

 

“Uh, Doctor—I don’t remember anything like that.” Amy said.

 

“Have you had any blackouts?” He asked.

 

“Watch it, Doctor.” She said.

 

“Sorry, sorry, Amy—we’ll go to Cardiff, and uncover the blip,” He said, setting the new coordinates into the TARDIS.

 

***

Captain Jack Harkness had lost all sense of time and direction, except for up—up, up keeping digging up, keep digging—he pounded away at the earth as he dug, trying to make headway, but it was no use. He kept swallowing earth again. It was a bitter, cold, cruel, slightly wormy and moist piece of earth he kept swallowing; very fertile, he could tell, but not much more than that.

 

Captain Jack had to die—there just was no way around it. He had to die, and live again...he just had to die, and live again. Jack was getting tired of it. Sometimes he let himself sleep instead of keep digging, but it was very hard to sleep deep down below when the earth was crushing down on top of you. He groaned, and swallowed.

 

He also ‘exuded’ earth, although let’s not get into that right now-- suffice to say, he fertilized the soil.

 

Suddenly, he heard a sound—it was very familiar to him, although he couldn’t say how...

 

***

“All right, we got a lock, Amy, and—here we go,” The Doctor said as he flipped the switch, and the TARDIS started moving again.

 

A moment later, he said, “We appear to have stopped, and—he should be right outside the TARDIS. Somewhere. Amy, turn on the viewer screen.”

 

She did, and told him, “It’s earth, Doctor—lots and lots of earth.” She was worried.

 

“We are underground.” He added, then remarked, “Better go open the door,” He then rushed down from the TARDIS console.

 

“Are you sure that’s wise?” She asked, running up to the railing.

 

“Better to be foolish than wise sometimes, Amy Pond,” he said as he opened the door and a pile of dirt slipped inside, but most of it was held outside by the barrier. “We better start digging,” He added, and then proceeded to do just that into the pile of dirt

 

Amy joined him. “Are you sure that--”

 

“What?” He asked her, turning his head to face her as he kept on digging.

 

“We are--he’s buried, Doctor; it might be too late.”

 

“It’s never too late, Amelia Pond,” He told her softly, and then reached inside the dirt to pull out—a shoe, or the start of a leg. “And it’s never too late for Captain Jack. Come on, _Amelia_ Pond, and help me pull him out!”

 

Amy groaned at being called ‘Amelia’, but helped out, tugging and pulling on the other man beside the Doctor until they had practically dragged him out of the earth. Even more dirt had shifted into the TARDIS, but the Doctor said it would be cleaned out eventually.

 

Amy stared down at Jack from where she sat on the floor. “He’s dead.” She said, turning to the Doctor. “Why did we come all this way, and why--”

 

“Amy, be quiet,” He said, staring down at Jack as well from where he stood like he was thinking of something.

 

“I wish we knew—a _real_ doctor, one that would have saved Jack.” She muttered to herself, turning back towards Jack and annoyed at the Doctor.

 

“Or a good nurse.” The Doctor muttered to himself, so softly that he thought Amy wasn’t listening. She frowned to herself, annoyed at him for some other reason. “Amy, don’t move.” He told her louder. “Stay right there, I’m going to move over to the other side.”

 

She turned around to watch him go. “What are--” She asked, and then turned back to Jack—“Uh, D--”

 

“Shh! Don’t say anything. Just give him a chance to breathe.” The Doctor told her as Jack was coming back to life. Amy stared down, stunned at a miracle.

 

***

“Hhhuuuuhhh--” Jack said (or gasped, really) as he came back to life, gagging on the last bit of soil left in his mouth, and still lying in dirt, but when he finally spit the last piece of soil out, he realized—he wasn’t breathing in more soil. He was staring up at some bright lights--

 

He closed his eyes. “Hello?” A female voice said.

 

“Is this a dream?” He asked.

 

“Uh—no, I don’t think so, though--”

 

“Oh, you’re a sight for sore eyes—sore eyes, if I could see.” He managed to open his eyes a little bit, squinting. “It’s too bright in here for me.” He said. “What’s your name if you aren’t a dream?”

 

“Uh—Amy Pond--” she said.

“Amy Pond,” He repeated, getting a better look at her face as his eyes adjusted a little bit more to the light. “Such a beautiful name for such a lovely face, and you are a vision of light after years of darkness.” He muttered to himself. Amy looked a little bit uncomfortable, as if she hadn’t heard such words uttered to her before; what sort of man wouldn’t try to speak up to her like that? “And if we are going to keep up pretenses that this is not a dream, my name is Captain Jack Harkness, and where are we?” He laughed; he could get used to such a dream.

 

“This is the TARDIS.” She told him. The light above her head had resolved itself into a vision of circular patterns, retracted lighting in the roof arching above their heads—a roof similar to the coral reef pattern of the TARDIS he had known and loved, but totally different...

 

Captain Jack sat up. “Are you fooling me?” He asked, looking around—there’s the coat rack, and the walls, more roundels, a big screen, and—no, it couldn’t be...

 

“No, we’re actually in the TARDIS.” She was saying. “My name is Amy Pond, and--”

 

“Hello.” said the stranger standing up above on the platform; waving his hand as he leaned against the railing, he looked very smart, and very uncomfortable with the whole proceeding, but he just stared at Captain Jack and Amy Pond for the moment. Captain Jack stared at him.

 

“Doctor--” said Jack, trying to stand, and failing to do so at the moment. “Can it really be--”

 

“Yes, I’m afraid it’s really me, and no, you’re not dreaming this.” The Doctor—no, not his Doctor—said. “I’m sorry to have ‘disturbed’ you,” He actually used air fingers to quote this, “But we found—or noticed—your blip on the radar screen, and--”

 

“Oh, Doctor, I’m so glad to see you.” Captain Jack said, laughed, and managed to get up, walking a step towards the Doctor before the Doctor came over and helped support him with a hug. “I had hoped—I hadn’t thought--” Captain Jack got a little bit choked up as he thought about everything that had happened to him, and what he wished... “I just wish you would come by to see me more often--instead of when I really need you.”

 

“Point taken,” The Doctor said, managing to extract himself a little bit from the hug to get a good look at Jack. “But then would it be so special?” He sighed, studying his old companion. “Oh, Jack, what have you gotten yourself into this time?”

 

“Doctor--I really needed you.” Jack said, his voice a little bit stronger as he was angry and upset. “I think...I really need to sit down, or lie down--or fall down.” He began to tip.

 

“Amy, could you help me--” The Doctor was saying.

 

“Sure, Doctor,” She said, getting up on the other side of Jack. Jack’s legs and vision were a bit wobbly, and as they got him up onto the platform, and onto the chair, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I hoped you liked it--I was a bit worried about getting the voices right. I thought Eleven merged too much with Ten sometimes, and Amy Pond--well, she is Amy Pond, and not some other companion, right? I decided to go with after Vincent and the Doctor, or after the Siliurian two-parter for the sake of getting the Doctor and his companion at a late stage of their Season 5 relationship, when she knows enough (or thinks she knows) enough about him and the TARDIS. (Plus, it's a little bit more poignant with Rory gone, and not on-board the TARDIS because of what happened, [I also could not deal with Rory just yet character-wise] and I think the Doctor has enough knowledge/thinking about death at this point.) And I decided to bring Amy along, and not leave the Doctor alone with Jack, because, well, it would be a little more boring, wouldn't it?
> 
> (I considered getting old Doctor, 1100 something, or new young 11 Doctor, at about the point he left Amy after the Prisoner Zero thing was wrapped up but before their adventures, because these two by themselves might be fine...but I decided I want more zest, more zing, more choice of talk with another character wrapped up in the mix. Plus, I don't know much about how they will [old Doctor especially] react.)


	3. Explanations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack's asleep, Doctor and Amy are going to have a nice long talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to get through this, you know me, Jack has to sleep, and Amy has to talk to the Doctor--ask him what's going on. Because she's has got some questions, and he has got some answers, although he's not telling her everything, as you well know.

**3. Explanations**

 **  
**

“Doctor, what was that all about?” Amy asked him afterward as he and she retreated from the side of the snoring Jack. The Doctor was surprised to find out that Jack needed to sleep after being dead for however long he was, but perhaps he had wasted so much energy being underground, trying to—dig his way out, or whatever—and maybe he had been stuck down there for so long that he had gotten weak. The Doctor didn’t know.

 

He had first been curious to learn that the ‘blip’ on the radar screen (or viewer, to be more precise) was located in Cardiff, 42 AD, and couldn’t help wondering if Jack—had Jack gone back in time? Funny sort of thing, if he did, but then once he (the Doctor) found out that the ‘blip’ was underground, and that the underground was full of soil, and not some secret hidden base of operations, then the Doctor was worried that Jack was in some sort of trouble, being buried.

 

However, in the midst of the operation to pull Jack out of the soil, the Doctor started to worry again, this time wondering if he was doing the right thing, and not interfering with some sort of set timeline. But Amy was here, and he did not want to worry her or make her ask him some annoying questions about what he was doing when he abandoned the effort. Plus, he was certain he could finagle some bypass—get Jack buried again later on, or soon afterwards—so that he did not interfere with the timelines too much. He could prove something to Jack, that he did not abandon his friends when they were in need, and then Jack would owe him a favor—instead of the other way around…

 

Plus, Amy had to know about Jack, and what he could do. The cracks were responsible for Rory being dead, and gone from Amy’s life, erased from existence, but the dead could come back to life, just like Jack proved. The Doctor knew that he should not hold on to false hope for Rory ever coming back when there was little chance, little hope for that, but it was never too late—never; the Doctor would see to that.

 

Though the Doctor did not know just what he could do yet about the cracks, and Rory, perhaps something could be done to prevent whatever it was that involved a piece of his TARDIS from happening.

 

“I don’t know. I mean, what do you mean?” The Doctor asked her.

 

“You—you abandoned him, too?” Amy asked him, annoyed and upset. Oh, abandonment issues. “You—left him to die, or…come back to life?”

 

“I did not abandon him.” The Doctor told her, upset by that remark. “I did not leave him because I wanted to, I left him because…I had to.” He said, sighing to himself. “I left him a long time ago—in another place, not Cardiff, in the future, and then—I lost track of him for awhile. I found him again, but—things had changed…”

 

“What do you mean?”  She asked him.

 

“Your turn, eh?” He said, smiling. “It’s complicated, isn’t it? Almost as complicated as my life with River Song.” He sighed. He wished he could solve that problem as well. “I had changed. Jack had changed. I missed bumping into him because we jumped around; I through time and space, and he was real busy as well, going on secret missions across the globe for his special little organization Torchwood during this time period, when he had gone back into the past, and he never settled down for very long.”

 

He had stood to the side earlier to see Jack from a distance, to study him and determine what time in Jack’s life he had caught him in, for there were plenty of times in Jack’s life the Doctor had criss-crossed with him, going in opposite ways, and had to avoid him. He also wanted to surprise Jack with this appearance, in case Jack did not know who he already was. The Doctor studied Jack in those first few moments of life, and determined that Jack was younger than he had seen him in long while—younger than when he had seen him at the bar, and sent Alonso over to him, and younger than when the Daleks had invaded Earth, and the reality bomb was about to blow, with all of his most recent companions—and Jack—mixed up in the affair. He had determined this, and now he wanted to know just what had happened to Jack—what had changed him.

 

“You said he stayed in Cardiff!”

 

“What?” The Doctor said.

 

“He was usually to be found in Cardiff, that’s what you said.” Amy insisted.

 

“Well, yes, when he wasn’t running around. But that’s not the point, he was in troubling times, all the way from the turn of the 20th century to--”

 

 “20th century?” Amy said.

 

“20th century, maybe even earlier, the first times ‘aliens’ popped up on your planet—they’ve been there throughout your history, scattered all across the place, but they really come on with a vengeance in the 20th century. Cardiff was, and is, a hotbed of Rift activity, the Rift being a wormhole where things from other spaces and times showed up in Cardiff—not always on a regular basis, but regularly enough. Torchwood, Jack’s organization, dealt with the alien threat—and I was considered an alien threat by them for a long while.”

 

“An alien--” Amy laughed. “A threat? You--” She hesitated. “All right, so Jack--Jack was on the wrong side?” She asked.

 

“No, not particularly, for the most part he’s just been on his own side, surviving, but he did say he tried to remake Torchwood, or at least his part of Torchwood, into my image—trying to be noble.” The Doctor sighed. “He is noble in his own way, for dealing with the mundane, or what is mundane by galactic standards—the day to day affairs of policing a highly volatile state where time and space are being messed up.”

 

“What--”

 

“Aliens and humans intersect, sometimes not in a good way as you well know, and Torchwood cleans up the mess in Cardiff.” The Doctor explained. “And that’s what it’s all about. I can’t deal with the mess sometimes. You know that. I can’t deal with all of the disasters in time and space. It’s physically impossible, not to mention it makes my eyes twitch just thinking about all of the wars, crimes, catastrophes, famines, diseases, climate changes, and--there is just no way. There are limitations to my ability to interfere in anything, a lot of limitations as a matter of fact, because if something is meant to be, then it has to be.

 

“Only when time goes wrong--when things get so fouled that they are not meant to be--am I allowed to go in and do something. Torchwood, however, does not interfere in the same way that I do, it does not deal with the big galactic/universe-sized threats. Torchwood—Jack’s Torchwood, in any case—only deals with what’s going on in Cardiff, or in the local area, that might threaten Cardiff and its citizens; possibly the whole world if it gets too out of control, but mostly Cardiff. Can you imagine that? Me, stuck in one place and time for the rest of my life, fighting for the people there, of course, but waiting for something to happen, and dealing with the things that occur one day at a time.”

 

“You can’t imagine that.” The Doctor said. “It’s just not possible for me. And so I travel, and deal with my own problems as I see them coming, deal with problems and issues I come across that affect not just one world, but sometimes multiple worlds, the universe, and more. I like to travel and explore—see new things, or old things again through new eyes.” He smiled. “Torchwood is different. I can’t trust Torchwood. Torchwood has a dark past, one that not even Jack is willing to acknowledge. They had to deal with some serious stuff, and they turned hard—harder than even me sometimes, I suppose.” He hesitated, not quite sure if he was right, but probably right enough.

 

 “You did come back for him eventually, didn’t you?” Amy asked. “You did come back, and--help Jack?”

 

“Yes, I did, but would you believe that he had to wait almost—no, over—100 years to see me again in person?” The Doctor sighed.

 

“What?” Amy said.

 

“He really wanted to see me by then,” The Doctor said. “And ask about his ‘powers’, how he had gotten near-immortality, being resurrected again, and what he could do about them.” The Doctor shook his head. “I guess he was tired of living by then, or wanted to avoid the whole mess of living and dying again.”

 

“You didn’t solve his problem, did you?” Amy said.

 

“No, not really, I couldn’t do anything about it.” He said. “He had gotten his ‘ability’ from somebody else who had messed up with the timelines, and brought him back to life after he had died in battle. Then—well, she lost her ability to do anything about that--”

 

“She?” Amy asked.

 

“Amy, she--” The Doctor hesitated. “Her name was Rose, and she looked into the Heart of the TARDIS. No human—not even me, directly for a long period of time anyway, can stare into such unimaginable power without...well, getting a bit ‘wigged out’ in some weird way, and it was killing her. She had inhaled all of this power, and was using it to destroy Daleks left and right, make things right in her own mind, but it was unnatural and it was destroying her as well. I had to absorb all of that energy from her, and eject it back into the TARDIS as well, but it still nearly killed me—being the conduit—and then I had to get a whole new face when I regenerated.” He said, rubbing his chin.

 

“My old face, not this face, my old face was wider and a little bit shorter with lighter brown hair that stuck up a bit more and fizzled down in the middle.” The Doctor continued. “Plus, I had to slick it back myself, and I think I had less hair back then. Now my hair is naturally smoother, shinier, and slicker than it was back then, and has more volume, and I’m just going to stop right now.”

 

Amy shook her head. “Doctor, you have...a complicated life.”

 

“Thank you for being so understanding,” The Doctor said, smiling.

 

“What else can I be?” Amy Pond said, sighing as she threw her hands up in despair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, what do you think? I hoped you liked it, not too boring--my spin on things with the whole Torchwood/Doctor Who, Jack and Doctor, what's-up with-them problem. Amy has some answers, but not enough, and Jack's going to wake up soon now--promise.


	4. Something New

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack and Amy talk about talking, and the Doctor and Jack get into an argument.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been so long since I updated, but I hope this chapter is good enough for an update. I have in mind some future ideas, but nothing clean or clear cut. This may interact eventually, or to some part, with Reflections of a Time Lord--I put a bonus chapter in there, or started to, about Jack and the Doctor prior to 'Smith and Jones'--prior to a lot of things, as you soon might see.
> 
> Anyway, here we go--hope you enjoy.

**Chapter 4: Something New**

Amy Pond shook her head. She was used to the Doctor being ‘obtuse’, but having this whole secret life and secret past that she never knew he had—interacting with people like Captain Jack, who could not die, and Rose who inhaled the Time Vortex or Heart of the TARDIS—she just wasn’t used to this yet.

 

Seemed the Doctor had a surprise for her every week, or every day at least. And the way he explained it--neat and proper, tidied it all up, but it still didn’t make sense to her as she wondered why he hadn’t brought up, ‘oh, did I happen to mention Torchwood?’ the first time around, why he had not explained all of this before.

 

Perhaps he did make his explanation all up? Or perhaps he did not explain all of this at first because it was needlessly complicated, and it was a need-to-know basis for him. Quite possible. Something else she had to keep in mind.

***

Captain Jack slept, and dreamed. He was digging again underground, only this time he was about as tall as a mole, standing inside his hollowed-out burrow, with plans to make a tunnel that extended outward and upward.

 

“You’re not really dreaming about this thing again, are you?” Jack heard, and turned around to see John Hart standing a short distance away, dressed in leather, with a bit of a surly British accent to his voice, and bleach-blond hair. “Give it a rest already.”

 

“I always wondered what you would look like dressed like this,” Jack said, studying John. “I thought you would be taller.”

 

“So did I.” John said, shaking his head. “Ah, well, give it a rest already, you’re out of this mess. You’re in the TARDIS again, isn’t that blooming wonderful?” He took out a cigarette, and lit a match. “You’re not dreaming about that part.” He said, starting to smoke.

 

“How did I--”

 

“Does it matter?” John said. “It was the ring I gave you, by the way,” He muttered, pointing at Jack’s left ring finger. “Had a tracking signal, but I thought I was the only one who could find you in the future—the present—but that doesn’t even matter. What’s important is that you can now come save me and all of your other little friends from Gray. Isn’t that what you want?” John asked as Jack looked down. “So, wake up, go fetch your Doctor, and tell him where and when you want to go.” John said.

 

“Wait--” Jack said, looking up. “I want to know...what are you doing with--”

 

“What? This?” John said, pointing at his hair. “Oh, you know, I just wanted to try something new.” John said. “Besides, I thought you might like it.” He then vanished.

 

***

Jack woke up. He opened his eyes to find himself lying in a reclined position on the sofa/loveseat ‘jump’ chair beside the console. The lights had dimmed a little bit.

 

He sat up. “Hello, Captain Jack.” said a female voice he recognized--

 

“Amy Pond.” Jack managed to say, turning around to face the fair red-haired ‘newcomer’ to the TARDIS family. She was different to Rose, and Martha. “Glad to meet you.” He said, holding out his hand. “Hope I didn’t disturb you.”

 

“I wasn’t expecting to--” Amy Pond said, and shook his hand. “I wasn’t expecting to meet a man who could come back from the dead.” She said. “I’ve met several other people who were friends with the Doctor--not exactly the most ordinary of people, but never--never had I imagined...”

 

“The Doctor didn’t prepare you well, did he?” He asked with a laugh. “He always does that--springs a trap on you when you least expects it. Leaves you in the dust, and forces you to come along with him, keep up as best as you can, and then fend for yourself in the end.” He sighed.

 

Amy Pond frowned and lowered her head, blushing with embarrassment, as she said, “The Doctor told me we would be meeting Jack, Captain Jack he soon added, but nothing more--we found your signal and tracked you down, dug you up, we were in a bit of a rush. I suppose the Doctor suspected something was wrong, or ‘off’ when we found your signal in 42 AD, but--well, he didn’t have time to explain everything, I suppose.”

 

“Never does, does he?” Captain Jack laughed again. “Always a fast talker, that Time Lord. He babbles on whenever we’re on the run, doesn’t explain half of the terms we don’t understand.”

 

Amy Pond smiled a bit. “He does try, though, but when things get tough--he’s pressed for time usually. But he did sit down with me, while you were asleep, and--discussed some of the problems he’s had with Torchwood.” She said.

 

Captain Jack sighed. “I wish he would sit down with me and give me that same little talk. I wish he would explain--although he did talk a lot, didn’t he?” He said.

 

“More than anything. He does talk a lot more than he does things rapid-fire.” She said.

 

“He talks up a storm, that’s why they call him the Oncoming Storm!” Captain Jack said, laughing. “Although I suppose sometimes he does talk so much because he’s alone, or has only one other companion--doesn’t have anything else to fill up the space with, doesn’t have anyone else to share talk time with too much.”

 

Amy Pond frowned. “One other companion...” She said, and then shook her head. “Maybe that’s so, but sometimes he’s quiet, too quiet.” She said. “He’s always thinking, always planning something.” She said half to herself. “I wish I could get inside his head sometimes and figure out what he’s thinking about that’s so important he can’t--”

 

“Well, I suppose I leave you two alone for too long, it’s natural that you all will start talking about me,” said the Doctor as he flicked the lights on even brighter.

 

Captain Jack and Amy glanced away from the glare, shielding their eyes as Captain Jack looked down at the floor. “It looks...shiny,” He said, glancing up at the Doctor.

 

“Much brighter than the old version, I have to admit, more on the techno-groovy side,” The Doctor said, smiling and dancing a little bit.

 

“How did it get like this?” Captain Jack asked.

 

“Fire. I had a more--explosive regeneration than the last,” He said, glancing around. “Radiation poisoning. It’s complicated,” He added, frowning. “In any case, how are you, Jack, how have you been? When was the last time we saw each other, the Master incident?”

 

“Yeah, that was--why would you ask me that?” He said.

 

“Might have been in the past for him, but in the future for you.” Amy said, smiling.

 

“Amy--” The Doctor said, trying to shush her.

 

“Wait, have you met me since?” Captain Jack asked, looking up. “In the past for you, but in the future for me? What happened?” He asked.

 

“Amy, we have got to have a long talk about not interrupting me when I’m trying to get around some delicate little matter,” The Doctor said, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, I can’t--I can’t spoil this. Leastways I don’t think I can spoil this.”

 

“Doctor, what are you talking about?” Jack said.

 

“Jack, you were supposed to stay buried.” The Doctor said.

 

“What?” Amy said, looking up. “That--you mean--we weren’t just going to leave him buried there, were you?”

 

“He always leaves me behind.” Jack muttered.

 

“No, I--I wasn’t going to just leave him there, not after you found him, but--I had worried that it was too soon for him to be ‘unburied’. Jack, you--you have been buried for awhile, right?”

 

“Since 27 A.D., I think that was what I heard my--my burial party say,” Captain Jack said, frowning at this point, but then he continued, “It has been--I heard this lovely young woman say it was 42 A.D. now, 15 years of excruciating pain and suffering for me.

 

“Being buried is not a trip in the park. Suffocation and hopelessness, trying to dig my way out, tedium and, well, just trying to come to grips with what happened--Doctor, can you honestly say it was not right for you and Amy Pond to unearth me? And can you honestly forgive me if I say--are you nuts for trying to tell me that I was supposed to stay buried? For how long, Doctor? For how long?” He asked emphatically.

 

“Well, how’s about--give or take--500 to 1900 years from now?” The Doctor said.

 

“That’s insane!” Amy Pond said, looking up. “What, you weren’t supposed to find him?”

 

“No, that was an accident. That was a ‘blip’ on the radar screen we weren’t supposed to find until--you found him.” The Doctor said.

 

“Thank you, Amy.”

 

“You’re welcome, Captain Jack.”

 

“So, let me get this straight, Doctor--” Captain Jack laughed. “You were supposed to fly right by me, without even noticing me, while I suffered? And I--”

 

“Amy Pond and I got you out, Captain Jack, and we were there to rescue you. You would have been down there for a long time, but now--we can get you closer to your destination time, without all of that pain and suffering. You’re welcome.” He added.

 

“Doctor, are you--are you just going to bury me again?” Captain Jack asked. “Can’t you--why can’t you just take me back, straight to my own time and place, right when and where I was when--you know?” He asked.

 

“Captain Jack--I’m sorry, that’s not the way it works.” The Doctor said.

 

“You’re sorry? You’re always sorry!” Captain Jack exclaimed. “You’re--”

“Captain Jack--Doctor--” Amy said, looking back and forth between them. “I don’t understand this, I never have, but--”

 

The Cloister Bell rang. Everyone looked up, and then slam, bang, something seemed to be hitting the ship, it was rocking back and forth.

 

“What’s happening?” Captain Jack called.

 

“They’re--they’re--” The Doctor appeared to be examining the viewer screen. “Reapers.” He hissed.

 

“Reapers?” Amy asked.

 

“I thought they weren’t--” Captain Jack said.

 

The Doctor punched a few buttons, and a holographic screen appeared in front of Amy and Captain Jack, showing the creatures attacking the TARDIS. “Reapers--they feast on areas affected by temporal paradoxes,” He said, looking towards Captain Jack.

 

“Oh, what, I’m to blame for--” Another Reaper slammed into the TARDIS, trying to rip through the force field. “Hang on--I’ve been a temporal paradox before.” He said. “I went back in time and met the previous Captain Jack in World War 2, I’ve been around Cardiff in that same time period and my previous self was all over the place, especially in London, during World War 2.”

 

“Wait a minute, what--” Amy Pond said.

 

“That’s different! You’re--you were supposed to be in those times and places!” The Doctor called.

 

“Wait a minute, but--if I’m supposed to be a fixed point in time and space, then can I be a temporal paradox if I’m so messed up to begin with?” Captain Jack asked.

 

“That—that’s a good question,” The Doctor said thoughtfully. “You know, I’ve really only seen the Reapers once or twice, and--they are always around at the oddest times and--” Bling, bling.

 

“We’re going to be thrown.” The Doctor said. “The TARDIS can’t handle this much more. We’re going to be--transferred to somewhen else.”

 

“Somewhen--when and where precisely?” Amy Pond asked.

 

“I don’t know--let’s find out.” The Doctor said, smiling.

 

“Here we go again.” Captain Jack said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know--Spike as Captain John Hart, right? Couldn't resist. And I can't help wondering about those Reapers (I want to say Reavers, though) from Father's Day--very curious that they show up at one paradox, with Pete, Rose's dad, and not at other paradoxes. Makes you think, huh? Anyway, I'll get to that if I can. Might update soon. Ciao.


	5. The Great Sundialer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor, Amy Pond, and Captain Jack are in great trouble and danger--especially after they get separated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Be warned--I'm winging parts of this along, as you may understand, but I'm trying to be 'epic'. Please forgive some randomness.

5\. The Great Sundialer

The Cloister Bell pealed, pounding louder than ever before as Captain Jack, Amy Pond, and the Doctor held on tight to the console. “Uh-oh.” said the Doctor.

“Uh-oh what?” said Captain Jack.

“I think we’re breaking apart,” The Doctor said as the TARDIS ripped.

Amy Pond screamed as ‘dong, dong!’ went the bell, and the walls seemed to dissolve around them, leaving nothing but a vast emptiness of black space. Jack cried out in alarm as they held on, not about ready to let go as they felt--

“We’re losing gravity,” The Doctor said, his voice echoing as they were both falling and floating upwards. “It’s not—we're not supposed to be doing this!”

“You’re in charge of this thing!” Captain Jack and Amy both said at about the same time.

"Okay, don't get angry with me," the Doctor said.

“Can’t you just--wiggle something?” Amy Pond asked.

“Oh, I like the sound of that,” Jack said.

“Shut up!” The Doctor cried. “It’s not that simple! I can’t just readjust—oh,” The Doctor said, attempting to climb up onto the console. “I wonder if I can--” He squeezed a tube. “No, nothing there,” He said, attempting to slide himself over. “If I can just--” He accidently kicked a lever over.

The TARDIS console flipped over. “Ah!” screamed Amy and Captain Jack, barely hanging on again as they were hanging--Amy Pond slipped.

The Doctor reached out to grab her hand, and Captain Jack fell instead.

“Noooo!” Jack yelled.

“Captain Jack!” Amy cried, reaching down.

“Amy! I can’t--” The Doctor said, trying to hold on to her, and hold on to the console as well. “I can’t hold on to you for much longer! Grab onto something!” He said.

“Why did you let him fall, and not me?” Amy asked, trying to reach something.

“Is this really the time to be--?” The Doctor grimaced. “I can’t hold on to two people at once! You were the one who fell first, and I grabbed onto you without even realizing--”

“Captain Jack!” Amy cried. “What about--you said there wasn’t any gravity!”

“I readjusted something by accident,” He said. “It flipped things over, now hurry!” He said.

Amy Pond strained...“I can’t--you have to let me go!” She said.

“Let you go? I can’t--” The Doctor hesitated. “We’ll both go together.” He said.

“You mean that?” Amy Pond said.

“Sure. You ready?” The Doctor said, and let go of the TARDIS console. “Geroni—moooooooooo...” The Doctor called out as they fell, but Amy Pond had let go of him by accident, and they fell separately.

***  
“Ahhhhhh!” Captain Jack yelled, spinning out of control, as he was hurled through space--

“Uh!” He said, as he landed splat on the floor of--Captain Jack raised his head. Why wasn’t he flattened like a pancake? And why did it sting instead of just kill him?

He looked around. He wasn’t in the TARDIS anymore, nor was he in space--a steel room. Similar to the sort--

He paused. “Help?” He said, staring at the opening—“Help!” He cried, getting up, and—

“Uh!” He was shocked back by the red laser bars that nearly killed him.

“A prison cell--in some kind of” He paused as he heard a familiar humming sound. “Spaceship.” He said, sighing. “Well, I’m in a spaceship--let’s see what kind...”

“Officer, officer!” He called, getting up and getting as close to the bars as he could. “Guard! Guard!”

Stomp, stomp...*grunt* said the figure that turned towards him, and removed its helmet. “Bo.” said the Judoon.

“Oh, what--”

The Judoon held up its translator device, which took in the string of words that Jack uttered in that moment, and said, “Identify: Earth English, with a touch of Balealin,” The Judoon looked him over, and frowned even more than the rhino-head usually did. “You are not supposed to be here.”

“Oh, thank you,” Captain Jack said.

“How did you get in here?”

“Well, if I could--” Captain Jack said, pointing up at the ceiling of the cell as he examined it himself, in search of the hole he had fallen through. “If I could explain it, I wouldn’t be in this mess,” He said.

The Judoon got out his other device--Jack held still as it scanned him. “Identify: humanoid Balealien. Kaliya Narfarari, or--” The Judoon paused as it shook its device. “This is incorrect. You have time disrupture.”

“What?” Captain Jack said, still stunned—Kaliya? No one had called him that since--since he had taken his name... “Where am I? What is this ship?” He asked.

“You are on the Sundialer. The Great Sundialer,” The Judoon said. “You are also on this ship as well.”

The Sundialer--didn’t make sense... “Wait a minute, what do you mean, I’m--I’m on this ship as well?” He said. “You mean--there is another me on here as well?”

The Judoon stared at him, its ears twisting as if it was still trying to figure this out as well. “Correct. You have time disrupture.” It said.

“Doctor...” Jack said, groaning. “I don’t remember--I don’t remember any of this,” He said, looking up. “I am--I am in my own past?” He asked. “Or in my future? And--what if I am in my past,” He gasped. “The two years...” He whispered.

The Judoon growled. “Come with me,” It said, dialing a number pad next to the cell to turn off the bars. “We shall have to investigate.”

***  
“Whhhhaaaa!” Amy Pond cried, trying to swim in the ether that surrounded her as she fell. “Docccctteeerrrrr...” She cried as she splashed-- *cough*cough* She managed to emerge from the water. “Oh my,” She gasped, spitting up water before she swam to the shore.

“I’m all drenched and wet--” She said, pulling herself out. “I’m--covered--” She grimaced as she ripped off leeches from her skin. “Ick,” She said, trying to remove as many as she could.

She shuddered and sighed, looking around. “Great place to wind up on an alien planet, in the middle of a swamp.” She said. “And how did I wind up--” She frowned, and sighed. “Never mind, don’t try to figure it out, because nothing makes sense anymore. Nothing makes sense anymore ever since I--” She sighed. “Ever since I met the Doctor. I mean, I can’t even remember why I went out with him on this—I remember I was dreading something. I’m pretty sure of that much, but I just can’t remember what,” She said, sighing. “Nothing makes any sense anymore.”

Something hooted in the trees. “A swamp on an alien planet--” She said. “Not a very good place to be,” She muttered to herself, getting up and walking away from the shore, shivering. “Cold and wet--talking to myself--I must be running a fever by now,” She said, deciding to head in a random direction in the hopes of finding the Doctor or Captain Jack very soon. She did not notice the distant ‘satellite’ orbiting the planet that she was on, far above the atmosphere--how could she? It was too far up.

***  
“Ooooohhhhh, there’s no place like home,” The Doctor sang, falling through darkness, “For the holidays, you can’t beat home sweet hooommmmeee...” He yelped. “Ammyyy!” He cried.

He landed--glass. He was falling--no, sliding down the glass, and--oh, he couldn’t breathe. “Hep, hep,” The Doctor said, choking as he felt the vacuum of space—

Someone grabbed him. “Bring him in.” A voice said over a radio--the Doctor couldn’t hear, though. The Doctor started to black out as he was dragged into an airlock. The outside door closed, the inside door opened, and the Doctor inhaled some fresh air. “Bring him in--is he dead?” Someone yelled.

“Where is the oxygen mask?” Another person asked. “Check his pulse.”

The oxygen mask was slipped over the Doctor’s face, and his eyelids started to flutter. “Breathe in and out, in and out,” A soothing voice told him.

“Heartbeat is good--second heart--second heart--!”

“We’re got a Time Lord here!” Someone yelled. “No wonder he is still alive! Takes a lot more than a couple seconds without air to kill a Time Lord!”

“Bring him here to me--I want to see him.” The final person said.

The Doctor had thought there were only 4 other people abroad this vessel, including the person who had rescued him, or at least in this room, but now that he was slowly regaining consciousness, he realized it was five--and he knew who the fifth person was.

The Doctor removed the oxygen mask himself, and slowly got up, staring at the figure sitting in the corner. Dressed in a frock coat, a waistcoat with cravat and pants, legs crossed at the knees with dress shoes on his feet, and curls--lots and lots of curls on his head.

“Well, well—first time we met?” The Eighth Doctor said.

“Oh my, well--I suppose you can say that,” The Eleventh Doctor said.

"We're about to dock with the Great Sundialer!" The pilot announced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think? I do not know much about the Eighth Doctor--sorry. I probably should see the TV movie at least. The other people on his ship--I've read Wikipedia on his other companions Fritz, Charley, Anji--sorry, no, these are not any of them. Just some people he met. Though if I ever do get the chance to read some 8th Doctor Who books, any suggestions?


	6. The Captain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Captain Jack and Captain Kaliya meet, as does the 8th Doctor and his crew with 11.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written in a hurry? Maybe. I do want to get through this. I like the idea of all the mix-ups, quite difficult to do to keep track of everything. And the reactions from all of the crew members involved--some are left in the dust. I might do some more on the crew if they are interesting enough. Now to begin.

6\. The Captain

“I suppose you are--”

“I do not wish to talk about this right now.” The Eleventh Doctor said, putting the oxygen mask back on to breathe in and out.

“Why not?” The Eighth Doctor said.

“Well, for one thing, I just got rescued from the vacuum of space,” The Doctor said, removing his mask. “And for another, I’m--I’m dealing with some problems.”

“By the way, how did you--” The Eighth Doctor smirked. “I--”

“I don’t wish to discuss it!” The Eleventh said, putting the mask back on.

The 8th sighed and leaned back, shaking his head. “Have I become such an obstinate fellow?” He asked.

“This is Captain Jacob Baker of the RRS Sinestra, requesting permission to dock with the Great Sundialer,” The captain, who was also the pilot, was at the comm. “Come in, Sundialer.”

“Permission granted,” A voice replied--the 11th Doctor turned around, wondering if it was--

“Just keep breathing,” The co-pilot--Lt. Carolina Stuart--told him. “You’re lucky that Richard was right outside--”

“Fixing the antenna array--dang thing busted loose,” Richard said, holding out his hand. “Sergeant Richard Myers--officially the lowest ranking member of this crew.” He said as the 11th Doctor shook his hand. “I traveled with the Doctor here a couple of times before, so I know a thing or two about Time Lords. What’s your name?”

“The Partisan.” The 11th Doctor said, as his former self lifted an eyebrow.

“Glad to meet you, Partisan,” said Richard, smiling. “And that’s Dr. Lt. Arnold Pullman over there, degree in psychology, I believe.”

“Also I happen to be a physicist,” Dr. Pullman added.

“Physicist and psychologist--potent combination,” 11th remarked.

Richard laughed. “Yes, that’s what I would say as well,” as Pullman frowned.

“So, I just popped out of nowhere,” The 11th Doctor said, “And I was just wondering--where am I, exactly?”

“Brain damage from space exposure?” Pullman asked.

“You would know,” The Eleventh Doctor remarked.

“We are over Polongus,” The Eighth Doctor told him, “The home of multi-eyed slug-like creatures. That over there is the Sundialer--not from Polongus. We are reporting in to its captain, who ordered us to come over, so that he might inspect our crew, and review our situation. I believe that he wishes to apprise us of a new situation. I am--the Doctor, naturally, scientific leader of this expedition. We are trying to contact the Polongusians, and see if they need any help. Richard and I are traveling with this crew for a short time only, our research assistant is down on the planet still, collecting bugs and what not--that is about it.”

The Eleventh Doctor slowly nodded. He liked this crew--they all seemed to be wonderful people, in their own personal, private way--but that was just it: he couldn’t remember them. He must have met them before now, when he was 8th, but he could not remember meeting them then. Hmm, vaguely he recalled Richard, Richard was a happy sort of fellow who always liked to joke around, but the rest--he could not even place what time this was. Although he feared--no, it could not be.

***  
Captain Jack Harkness marched ahead, hands held up in the air as the Judoon followed along behind, aiming his weapon. “I like to think that if the situation was reversed--”

“Silence.” The Judoon said.

They marched along corridors, men and women in uniform passed by them with no more than a brief glance before going back to business, chattering with each other in person or on communication devices, or else just hurrying--hurrying along like they were prepared to go to battle stations. Jack was on a military vessel, everything was stark and bleak all around him, with cables and pipes sticking out of walls decorated with only drab gray paint or metal, sheeting plate and concrete.

Jack assumed he knew what organization this ship was run by--the Time Agency, which was the one he belonged to, but nothing about this ship seemed to say ‘Time Agency’ to him. No, this ship was built by another organization before the Time Agency must have ‘borrowed’ it or bought it. The Time Agency was more flamboyant and more relaxed about their policies, they never had anything as gray and drab as this. Captain Jack had liked the Time Agency, before he lost two years of his life.

Finally, a door opened at the end of a hall, and Jack and the Judoon entered the bridge, overlooking the vastness of space with a command post so huge that it would make Captain James T. Kirk weep for his pitiful Enterprise bridge. The room covered about the same width and length as a theater hall on Broadway, although not quite so tall, with many computer banks and lots of technicians and other people whizzing about. Captain Jack Harkness whistled to himself, wondering what they were all doing, and what all of this was for.

“What is this?” He heard, and turned--“What is this, some sort of Ganger or carbon copy?” There he was, standing there about 160 years ago, give or take 2, and he was dressed in dark blue uniform, much the same as everybody else here on this ship except for some captain’s hat.

“Is that me? Is that what I really sound like?” He asked the Judoon and himself standing there.

“Captain Kaliya Narfarari--this person seems to be you.” The Judoon said, holding up his scanning device. “Indications of time disrupture, nothing else--no copy, not even Flesh.”

“I had an encounter with a Flesh machine once,” Captain Jack Harkness remarked. “It was remarkable, in its own way, inhabiting that other body--pretty pleasant, too.” He smiled.

“Silence! I am you and you are me and I have a gun!” Kaliya said, removing his weapon.

“That is just--why do you have to do that?” Captain Jack asked. “I mean, I have got another weapon pointed at me, and--do you remember that time loop with Michael when--”

“Did Michael send you?”

“No! He didn’t, and--why do you have to be this way? Can’t you just accept that--I am from your future.” He said.

“I have no future.” Kaliya told him.

An intercom whistled. “Captain, the RSS Sinestra has docked.” The communicator reported.

“Come with me--Fo!” Kaliya called back to the Judoon, and the trio headed towards the dock. “Do not attempt to escape.” Kaliya told Jack.

“I won’t.” Captain Jack said, rolling his eyes. “Why do you believe I have no future?”

“Because we are at war--against an enemy greater than any we have ever known--and this time, we are not going to win by reasonable ways,” Captain Kaliya said, walking.

Captain Jack stopped. “You don’t mean--no. It can’t be,” He said.

***  
The crew of the RSS Sinestra had just got off their ship when suddenly both Doctors sensed--“Jack!” The 11th Doctor cried.

“Ow, it hurts me--what do you mean ‘Jack’, Partisan? It’s a fixed point in time, can’t you feel that too?” The 8th Doctor asked.

“I’m traveling with him, Doctor, he’s my friend.” The 11th Doctor said, looking around. There were quite a lot of ships on board this docking bay, most of them fighters, but a few of them were transporters, similar to the RSS Sinestra--a research vessel that had probably come out of this dock, or from a neighboring planet in the solar system. None of these transporters could travel very far.

“What’s a fixed point in time?” Richard asked.

“It’s a point where I cannot interfere, which does not change and remains the same, as time slips around it,” The 8th Doctor said, staring at the 11th. By the way, where was the 8th Doctor’s TARDIS? The 11th Doctor wondered to himself, why was he—and Richard—traveling without it?

“I can’t help him because he does not change, yet he still needs my help.” The 11th said.

“Well said,” The 8th Doctor smiled.

“Huh?” Richard Myers said.

“Why should you bother with these fools, Richard?” Dr. Arnold Pullman said, shaking his head. “I still can’t believe you’re with them--they’re just talking nonsense.” He turned to the captain. “I still don’t understand why we had to help Richard and the Doctor with this slug project--”

“It could be very useful to our cause,” Captain Jacob Baker reported. “Besides, you know this is just a sideline to--”

“Attention, Captain Kaliya Narfarari on the deck!” Someone shouted, and Lt. Carolina Stuart saluted as the rest of the crew followed order--the 8th Doctor had to prod the 11th into doing so, as the Doctor was gaping.

Kaliya Narfarari—quite different from how he remembered him—strode into the docking bay, looking around, followed by—Captain Jack Harkness, Kaliya’s future self, prodded on by a Judoon. The rest of the RSS Sinestra crew, the people in the docking bay, and the 8th Doctor gaped as well when they realized Kaliya had a twin with him. Captain Jack Harkness opened his mouth, but the 11th Doctor quickly swiped a hand across his throat, trying to look casual yet implying--however, Kaliya noticed, as did 8th.

“What is this? Who are you?” Kaliya asked, pointing at the 11th.

“I am--”

“Captain Kaliya Narfarari, it appears there has been some sort of mix-up.” The 8th Doctor said, stepping forward, “Of a temporal form. I am the Doctor, and whether you know it or not, that man behind you--is yourself. Most likely from the future, as this man beside me--” He pointed out 11th—“is me. In the future. I am a Time Lord, and I regenerate--which means taking on a different shape, as the cells in my body reshape and reform themselves when they have suffered damage of a catastrophic nature. That is why he is near unrecognizable.”

Richard gaped at 11 and 8, as did the others.

Kaliya said, “Doctor?”

“I asked if I could call you Cal or Calvin the first time that we met,” The 11th Doctor said, “When you were not Jack, and you gave me your real name. I told you that you would be facing two years of decay and desperation, as well as nightmares.”

Captain Jack and the 8th Doctor, startled, stared at the 11th Doctor as Kaliya said, “This man here--” He pointed to Jack--“Said the same thing about coming from the future--near enough.” Kaliya sighed. “I do not understand this, but I am of the Time Agency—I can understand temporal disturbances, especially in the state that we are in. And I have met the Doctor here once before—in another form, when we traveled together for almost a year. And Doctor--” He said, frowning. “It has been more than 2 years. Though I have never met my future self before, in all the time that I--” Kaliya examined Captain Jack closely. “What have you done to my face?” He asked.

“I gave it a boost,” Jack said, and turned to the 11th Doctor. “Is this--”

“Where is Amy, Jack?” He asked.

“I don’t know, I—don’t tell me she isn’t with you!”

“She was, but then—I lost hold of her in the Vortex.” The 11th Doctor said, shaking his head. “Amy, she--I wound up in space. It was just by sheer luck, or--” He glanced at 8th—“temporal disturbance that I wound up being picked up by this crew and myself before I died.”

“What?” Kaliya and 8th Doctor said.

“This temporal disturbance that we have been speaking of, it was a form of paradox by which I, Jack, and Amy fell out of the TARDIS when--do you remember the time when you-me went to the Land of Fiction,” 11th Doctor asked 8th, “with Zoe and Jamie, how the TARDIS walls sprang apart—strange how things repeat themselves, with different names.”

“Zoe and Jamie?” Captain Jack asked.

“Anyway, now we were drawn to here and when--” The 11th Doctor turned around to Jack. “Where did you wind up, and how did you get there?”

“He was in a prisoner cell that was empty, a hole appeared in the ceiling, and he fell through.” The Judoon said. “I checked the security tape twice.”

“—I was in space.” The 11th Doctor said. “I worried that the others--Jack is here. Amy is not. Either she wound up in another part of the Sundialer, or—in space, or...” The Doctor said, turning to a window. “Polongus!” He cried. “The nearest planet! If she fell sooner or fast enough through the Vortex, maybe she was attracted by the gravity--”

“So we must sweep the whole planet?” Kaliya asked. “I will not do that, not even for--” He shook his head. “We are wasting time here. Your friend died, accept that. I am sorry, but--”

Captain Jack and the 11th Doctor nearly attacked Kaliya then, but the 8th Doctor said, “Wait a minute--based on what has been said here, I believe there may be a pattern.” He turned to his future self. “You say that you all fell at different rates of speed, at different times? Perhaps we might plot a course, based on the vector of the Vortex’s trajectory and the planet’s gravity field, as to where this Amy might have wound up.” He turned to Kaliya. “You could easily issue an order to have this ship searched--see if she is on board.”

Captain Kaliya slowly nodded. “I could, and will do that, but we must get down to business. We are all here for a reason, are we not?” He asked. “Crew of the RSS Sinestra--follow me. Captain Jack, Doctors—you might as well come along. We will have a private conference,” He said, striding off, with the Judoon staying behind to make sure that everyone else fell in line.

The others went along, with the Judoon following behind. The 11th Doctor turned to 8th. “Thank you. I had not thought of that.”

“You are a wreck. We must have a talk—in private, if we get the chance,” The 8th Doctor said, glancing at the Judoon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What do you think? Captain Kirk, eat your heart out, and Land of Fiction from 'The Mind Robber'--Zoe=Amy, Jamie=Jack, what fun is that paradox? Stayed tuned for more.


	7. The War

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and Jack get involved in a little discussion, while Amy is 'rescued'.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if my characters talk too much--just the way I am. I suppose at this point, everything splits off--I really need to juggle my characters around a bit, just to get them in action and in suspense. I like it when they discuss things reasonably.

** 7\. The War **

 

“I still don’t quite understand what’s going on,” Lt. Caroline Stuart said.

 

“I know, it’s a bit above my head as well,” Captain Jacob Baker said, “But apparently these two--” He pointed at 8th and 11th—“are both the same man, just as Captain Kaliya Narfarari and ‘Jack’ are. It’s a Time Lord thing.”

 

“Time Lord thing--they’re both delusional,” Dr. Arnold Pullman said. “Just as we all are for believing--I do not doubt that there is some sort of conflict brewing between the Time Agents and the Daleks, for they have the same sort of technologies for traveling and conquest, but the Time Lords--we have heard the stories, of course, of their ‘magic’ boxes and—and--”

 

“Two hearts? You did have the stethoscope, Dr.” Captain Baker remarked.

 

“I do not believe--that was just a mistake.” Dr. Pullman said. “That’s right, a mistake, I’m not a medical doctor. I’m a physicist and psychologist first and foremost, I could have—misheard something...” He mumbled.

 

“Wow, two Doctors!” Richard laughed, up front with the Doctors. “I can’t believe this, I—I heard of Time Lords regenerating, you know, but I never imagined--” He glanced back and forth at 11 and 8. “Which one is older?” He asked.

 

“I’m older. He’s 8th, my former self from--I’m 11th.”

 

“11th—and 8th,” Richard said, turning to smile at his own Doctor. “Two Doctors, both at the same time, this is unheard of!”

 

“Well, actually--” Both 8th and 11th started to say, and then stopped, staring at each other as Richard laughed.

 

“I can’t believe you met me-him,” Captain Jack hissed at 11th, pointing at Kaliya, “And you never told me--why didn’t you tell me?” Captain Jack asked.

 

“One thing I don’t understand is why you would suspect your young friends of being killed,” The 8th Doctor said, “and yet--”

 

“Jack--it was useless to tell you anything. For one thing, nothing much happened that would have erased his memories, and I couldn’t change his mind, or your mind, as to the fruitlessness of the Time Agency. You were so determined to return there that, no matter how much I showed you--and I did show you quite a lot--you were insistent on returning to the exact time and place I took you from. And I couldn’t tell him or show him what would or might have happened in his own personal future, because that is your past, present, and maybe future. That would have interfered too much. And I may have interfered enough already.” 11th Doctor said.

  
“Doctor, what about--” Jack asked.

 

“Never mind that,” the 8th Doctor said. “What’s done is done and that is the way things are supposed to be. He did not tell you anything because it was his choice, he did not want you to get upset or worried about the future or past, and it would have upset not only you and him, but everything--everything that ever was or ever could be. He did not want to interfere anymore than he already had, for it was such a delicate balance, and he had to navigate it precisely. He did not want to upset the balance, and now—my turn.” 8th turned to 11th. “Why?”

 

“Why what? Why, thank you for defending me-you?” 11th asked, smiling.

 

“Why were you so silent with your fears and sorrows, with Amy and Jack here?” 8th asked, pointing. “Why would you say nothing to me?”

 

“Uh...remember that speech that you just gave?” 11th asked. “Same thing applies here.” He said. “And I could tell you nothing because I knew next to nothing, for certain, about what had just happened, and I wanted to be extra careful about what I believed--for if I believe in too much, I might not believe at all. And...I like secrets. I keep a lot of them close to my chest. And...sometimes it’s easier for me, or harder, to be able to keep all of these secrets to myself. And I don’t blab about anything too much unless I know for certain that it is true or not true, although I do blab a bit, but not about important things, no. I just...like to keep secrets, and sorrow, and fear, and silence, to myself--nothing more.”

 

The 8th Doctor stared at him.  “What has happened to you?”

 

“Too much. And I like being manipulative as well,” He said, before he cried, “Where are we going?” to Kaliya.

 

“We are going to drop you two off at Conference Room A--” He indicated 11 and Jack at this point, “With ‘Wally’ here--” He pointed at the Judoon-- “While I go discuss business with these fine folk here,” He indicated the rest of the crew of the RSS Sinestra and the 8th Doctor. “This is the best I can do until I can get you quartered privately.” He told Jack.

 

“Well, I am of interest,” Jack remarked as both Doctors rolled their eyes.

 

“Silence! Fo!” Captain Kaliya Narfarari barked, marching off with the rest of his party as Richard and 8th waved back to Jack and 11, left behind with the Judoon ushering them into the private conference room.

 

***

“So...this is the Time War I’m assuming, correct?” Jack asked the 11th Doctor once they were both settled down on opposite sides of a conference table with the Judoon guarding the door, watching them.

 

The 11th Doctor glanced at the Judoon, and then turned to Jack. “Whatever gave you that idea?” He asked.

 

“Oh, just the fact that we’re on a great big warship, I don’t remember any of this because this was during the 2 years of absent memories, and my former self did remark that he did not believe he had a future because we are fighting a war he does not believe we will win, not by conventional means, against a greater enemy--”

 

“Okay, okay, it is in the early part of the Time War, as far as I’m aware of, although—not exactly sure when.” The Time Lord said, leaning back. “Richard—Richard did travel with me for awhile, although I do not recall involving him in anything like this, and I certainly don’t remember the Sundialer or--any of these other people when I was younger.”

 

“So--is this the time paradox that those Reapers were after us for?”

 

“I believe so.” 11 said. “This never happened to me, as far as I am aware of, and I am in new territory in that regard. Things have happened to me in the past where I--met my future or past time selves, but--never with this sort of unpredictability.”

 

“You met--you are even more messed up than I thought.” Captain Jack chuckled. “I have never met my past or future self before now, not if I could help it, and I have quite a convoluted time stream.”

 

“It gets worse.” The 11th muttered to himself. “The one thing is--” He remarked, louder than before so that Jack would not comment on his former comment, “That those Reapers came before it happened, before we met our past selves, and vice versa, when usually they come after a thing has happened--and I assumed it had something to do with you being unburied—but the thing is, nothing has happened yet to affect the outcome--”

 

“Oh, what, are you going to go on about me being unburied again when I should not have been--”

 

“Jack, we have been through this, I have said my part.” The Doctor told him. “I will not repeat myself on that account. No, most important yet--we have not done anything yet to affect the Time War,” He said, “Which is why I believe the temporal paradox is further along, and I intend to avoid it--”

 

“But how can you avoid--”

 

“Exactly--can’t avoid it without redoing everything, ergo the Reapers would not have come, we would not have been attacked, and the TARDIS would not have been thrown. Technically, we are here because of the Reapers,” He thought, leaning back. “Who would have thought--”

 

“Doctor--this does not change the fact that we are stuck here, in the middle of the Time War aboard a spacecraft equipped for battle, with Amy lost somewhere and--I do not trust myself,” He said, glancing over at the Judoon.

 

“Why do you think you stuck us in here?” The Doctor asked.

 

“Because I believe we are quibbling too much, and would not form up much of an escape plan, bound together. I believe he would want to have you in his hand, with your former self and some of your friends in his possession, and--I believe he thinks I would not harm him,” Jack said, staring at the Judoon.

 

“That does sound like you, an even more evil version of yourself—still inexperienced, though,” The Doctor muttered.

 

“You’re right,” Jack said, charging the Judoon.

 

***

It was very cold, and very wet, and she had been wandering about for hours, or what seemed like hours, as night had already come, and the moons circled about the planet far above. Amy wondered how long it had actually been since she had come upon this planet, and how long the days or the nights lasted on this planet—especially the nights. She heard strange sounds in the swamp that surrounded her and wondered why she was not attacked yet—perhaps whatever had made such sounds had not decided yet whether she was worth eating. Amy Pond shuddered, and stiffly rubbed her arms, trudging forward as she tried to avoid the swampy bits, and stick to firm ground. She had tripped once or twice, and nearly fell into the mud, sinking into the ground without end in sight, but managed to keep her feet and stay on the path.

 

She had not seen anything in the way of civilization, nor of the Doctor or Jack or the TARDIS, and wondered where they were—why she was alone like this. Why she could not stop thinking of her travels, why--why was she and the Doctor in Venice, with the fish vampires, and who had attacked that one fish vampire? Why there was such trouble with the ‘dream’ Doctor, and what had the Silurians destroyed?

 

Amy Pond could not figure it out. She could not—suddenly, she tripped again, and did not right herself in time, sinking into the swamp—she screamed, and reached out for a frond or reed, trying to swim back to shore. She heard a sound, and turned her head, sensing—“I’m not afraid!” She cried, lying.

 

She heard--something brushed up against her, and she yelped, shivering, and tried to swat at it—her body was pushed aside, and pulled under, her head submerging before she pushed herself away from whatever was attacking and swam up. The water was dark, and she could not see what was in it, but Amy Pond would not stay to find out. She swam again towards shore, and brushed up at dirt, but something was sucking at her.

 

“No!” She yelled, kicking at the monster and squeezing dirt to pull herself out, but then a bright light shone upon her and her eyes squeezed shut.

 

“Grab hold!” A voice called out, and Amy Pond reached out, grabbing on to something as a shot rang out—the monster shrank back, letting go of Amy and submerging again.

 

Amy Pond gasped, laughing and coughing as she was pulled out back onto firm ground. She sighed, and looked up. “River Song?” She asked.

 

“The same, my dear.” She smiled. “We shall have to get you by a warm fire.”

 

***

“Well, that wasn’t too bad,” Jack muttered, brushing himself off.

 

“The old ‘charge-at-him, die, and then attack him from behind when he’s not looking’ trick,” The Doctor said, checking to make sure the Judoon was only stunned.

 

“Never fails.” Jack said, smiling. “All right--so what is our plan now, Doctor?”

 

“Find out if Amy is alive on board this ship, or do a scan of the surface of the planet below--difficult, but I think I can whip up a program that will scan for human life signs. The problem is getting to her, or bringing her aboard ship, if--I really should have asked my former self where he put his TARDIS, but then we can always ‘borrow’ a cruiser.”

 

“Stealing, Doctor? Well, well--I suppose I’m up for it,” Jack said.

 

“The problem is--second problem at this point, we might want to look into it first or second, could be very important, but I suggest we get away as soon as possible without messing--the point is, I want to know what they are doing here. What we, our former selves, and all of these other people are doing here--what we are involved in at this point. For I know that this is the Time War, which is something that I should not be able to enter into from ‘the future’, when it was time-locked so that nothing could escape or vent through into the new reality aftermath--”

 

“Question--” Captain Jack raised his hand. “I want to know--did you ‘time-lock’ the Time War after it happened, whatever--killed off all but a few of the Time Lords and Daleks, or did some of the other Time Lords do it automatically, before the Time War ended, just so that it wouldn’t affect things?”

 

“Both--we had safeguards in place, just in case it went a little overboard. We sealed off key points in history, so that these points wouldn’t be affected, but we couldn’t protect everything.” He hesitated. “Certain planets and timelines were involved, and lost, in the Time War, but...we managed to preserve what little was important enough for both sides. Even the Daleks, or most of them at least, who hate everything decided to go along with these procedures, in case we tried to...interfere anymore than we already did with their timelines. They did not break the seals.” The Doctor said, “I did the final procedure, a fail-safe if you will, where everything was sealed up in its bubble—all of the Time War, the Daleks and the Time Lords fighting, so that even after it was gone and done...none of it would come back.” He smirked mirthlessly. “I might have done it wrong, though, or messed up some of the procedure, as, even though I was trying to do my best, I still had some...regenerative disorientation going on, and I was in a bit of a rush. I had some problems, issues with the whole proceeding--I might have left some gaps in the woodwork.”

 

“Gaps? So this is a gap that we were thrown into--” Jack said, waving his arm around. “This is what came up when we were thrown from the TARDIS.”

 

“I don’t know, maybe, we are here now,” The Doctor said, looking around. “I do not know anything else about this point in time, you know nothing of it because of your memory being erased, and you were pulled into it--pulled into the Time War without...”

 

“I know--maybe the Time Agency found the gap, and got us involved in this mess so that we wouldn’t have to deal with it later?” Jack said, puzzled.

 

“‘Make things happen’—that was one of the mottos of your Time Agency,” The Doctor remarked. “‘Make things happen’ so that they wouldn’t interfere with the ‘rigors of history’--your words, not mine.” The Doctor said.

 

“So...what, am I here as a representative of the Time Agency, assisting the Time Lords in their War, so that we can--stop them from bringing their war into our own backyard?”

 

“Brilliant, Jack!” The Doctor exclaimed. “Exactly, a tactical move--make sure the Time Lords know that the Time Agency is on their side, so that they will seal up the gap and push away the Time Agency. Make them indebted to you.”

 

“I suppose the Time Agency could never have sealed up that gap on their own,” Jack said, grimacing. “That still does not explain--”

 

“Why you’re here now, hovering over this planet? Come on,” The Doctor said, opening the door. “Let’s find out.” He grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what do you think? Quite a few surprises. Yes, Amy is a bit weak at this point--classic companion--but she's disoriented and sick. River Song--I just had to put her in now. Great research assistant, don't you think? More soon.


	8. Secret Weapon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A big discussion is going on--on board the Sundialer and on the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, sorry it's been so long, and--yeah, sorry if I haven't done enough to satisfy the wait. Hopefully it is better, though, knowing what happened in the past with River Song. Yes, that's right, River Song and Amy are going to be here--having a discussion as well. Start reading!

Chapter 8: Secret Weapon

“We have a plan, Doctor.” Kaliya Narfarari told 8th.

“What sort of plan is that then, captain?” The 8th Doctor asked, eyebrow raised.

“We have to got to hit the Daleks where it hurts,” Kaliya said, pointing at the chart. “The Daleks have been amassing a mighty force, and so have the Time Lords. The Time Lords have already begun their initial attacks, and so have the Daleks, but nothing has escalated beyond the brink of time interference.” He remarked. “The conflict has not even begun yet. It has just been warning shots up until now.”

“Warning shots?” The 8th Doctor laughed. “Millions have died already, I know.”

“Most of them Daleks and the like.” Kaliya remarked. “And you destroyed Skarro.”

“Don’t remind me.” The 8th Doctor said. “That was--a mistake. But it was the only way of getting the Hand back. And making sure that it did not fall into Dalek control.”

“Exactly! You did that to protect one of the most valuable assets the Time Lords ever had. And I will do the same,” Kaliya said, nodding. “The Skarro Degradation wound up here. Pieces of the planet were flung out into space with the supernova, and landed on other planets. The radiation from those pieces--for Skarro was such a heavily polluted place from years of war between Thals and Kaleds, followed by the Daleks themselves, that the radiation had seeped into the very rocks themselves that made up the planet’s core--spread to the other planets. The Polongus slugs—tell me, Doctor, what did you and your team discover?”

“They are mutating,” The 8th Doctor said, looking down. “Much like the creatures that inhabited the planet of Skarro did. We do not know how deeply, but they are progressively becoming more aggressive and rabid, much like whatever Skarro touches.”

Kaliya nodded. “The slugs are just the beginning. Many people have been afflicted on neighboring planets and systems, and it is spreading. But we have analyzed the samples you sent up to us earlier. And we think we have found a solution, an antidote. And something else. Dr. Arnold Pullman?” Kaliya asked.

Dr. Arnold Pullman sat up. He, Captain Jacob Baker, Lt. Carolina Stuart, and Sergeant Richard Myers were also with the 8th Doctor and Captain Kaliya Narfarari, all situated in a conference room just a level below where the 11th Doctor and Captain Jack Harkness were being kept. “We think we have found a secret weapon.” Dr. Pullman said.

“Of what kind?” The 8th Doctor asked, as Richard Myers sat up as well.

“It’s very interesting.” Pullman said. “I never would have believed this until a few months ago, when I was--pulled into this,” He cleared his throat, “But--I have heard of prions before. Have you?”

“Prions are pathogens of misfolded protein, which affect the brain and other neural tissues. They were discovered on Earth in the 20th century. These pathogens lead to mad cow disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and Kuru, amongst others. Kuru is related to Creutzfeldt-Jakob, except that the ‘shiver’ is more pronounced and they--laugh a lot as they descend towards emotional instability.” The 8th Doctor said.

“Mad cow disease?” Richard Myers muttered, shaking his head.

“Something like Kuru affects the Daleks, or parts of them,” Dr. Pullman said. “The prions are different, however. On Earth, a person could last for as long as two years or more with such a disease before succumbing to it. The Daleks, however, have been--controlled by the disease. Specifically, the prions on Skarro were created by the wars, which were--I am not a medical doctor, I am a physicist and a psychologist, but the mutations were created both by misfolding proteins and the nuclear detonations, a sort of lethal combination that should have killed them, but instead made them persevere. They survived, Doctor, but in a sorry state, and driven mad by the progression of the disease and what it had done to their brain--they did not want to be stopped.”

“So what you are saying--”

“The prions controlled the Daleks, Doctor.” Kaliya said. “It’s a survival instinct. The prions feasted on the Daleks, used the host to spread like parasites, and then launched themselves on another target. It was most pronounced on Skarro itself, and now has become a part of the Skarro Degradations.”

The Doctor stopped. “I’m not sure I believe that.”

“Believe it, Doctor.” Kaliya insisted. “Because we do. We believe that this is the chance we have to make the ultimate weapon--one that not even the Daleks can defeat. Dr. Pullman?”

“I have been working--” Dr. Pullman sighed. “I have been working on a discharge, one that can survive even the vacuum of space. It will be launched at the Dalek Flying Saucers, consisting of super-enhanced Skarro prions, designed to target specifically the physiology of Daleks. It will be called the Nightmare Child.”

“The Nightmare Child, Doctor, will be our plan, our secret weapon to hit the Daleks where it hurts,” Captain Kaliya Narfarari said, leaning in close to the Time Lord. “This is what you wanted, is it not, Time Lord? This is what we wanted, the Time Agency and the Time Lords, to defeat the Daleks--the super-charged prions will kill them after driving them past the point of insanity.”

“This is insanity,” The 8th Doctor said. “I am not sure I--I did not agree to this.” He said. “Richard and I arrived, and decided to help out after the research assistant--got sick,” He said, clearing his throat. “Is this what happened to her?”

“No, that was--” Lt. Carolina Stuart shook her head, and sighed. “The research assistant got sick after we sent the samples up, but she said--she was forgetting something. Or losing something. Either way, I don’t think--”

“Captain, you are messing with dangerous business here,” The 8th Doctor said, “One that could have serious consequences far beyond the ones you are looking for. Do you know that if you unleash this discharge, then you could possibly jeopardize not only Daleks, but Time Lords as well? Even yourselves? You say it is targeted at Daleks, but how well do you know that? What can the Nightmare Child do if it is given the chance to reign?”

“She did not test positive for any known disease.” Lt. Carolina Stuart said.

“The Nightmare Child will be a force to be reckoned with, but a responsible force.” Kaliya said. “That I can guarantee. We have already begun extensive tests, not just with Dr. Pullman presiding, but with other scientists presiding as well. Thus far, none of the test subjects have tested positive for any sort of disease that would result from prion manipulation. We believe that with a Dalek specimen, we could prove once and for all that the Nightmare Child is lethal only to Daleks.”

“A Dalek specimen?” The 8th Doctor exclaimed. “How much--how much have you produced of the Nightmare Child?” He asked.

“We have synthesized about 250 gallons, almost a ton.” Kaliya said.

“A ton?” The 8th Doctor exclaimed.

“Now listen, I don’t believe the Doctor would warn all you about this stuff without good reason,” Sergeant Richard Myers said, standing up. “I think you all should listen to him. He is an expert on this stuff, after all, he has handled so many crisises that—well, they should put a plaque up for him.”

“Thank you, Richard.”

“You’re quite welcome, Doctor.” Richard smiled.

“Now I know that the Doctor is an expert--” Kaliya said, glancing around, “I have traveled with him before, in his future, but--” He stopped. “The Nightmare Child is unstoppable. You cannot halt production now, not after it has already begun. It cannot be destroyed, either, not without wasting all of that effort—years of research, practically—and the Time War...what will happen without the Nightmare Child?” He asked.

“We will fight. We might even die. But we will do it honorably, without resorting to any more tricks.”

“Doctor, Doctor, that is quite unlike you.” Kaliya said.

“I know. I am learning the errors of my ways,” He remarked.

“Lt. Carolina Stuart, Captain Jacob Baker—seize him and Richard Myers, too.”

“You can’t do this to us!” Richard Myers cried as the lieutenant and Captain Baker both got up reluctantly to seize them. Richard and the 8th Doctor made a break for the door--Dr. Pullman lowered his head so as to be avoided in his shame—and then the lights flashed. The 8th Doctor and Richard had disappeared.

“Im--” Kaliya stopped. He had learned a lot from traveling with the other Doctor. He checked the door, the guards had not been disturbed, so there was no way the Doctor or Richard could have gone out there, so--he went back inside the room and looked around, then up.

“Doctor, Doctor,” He said, staring up at the crack in the ceiling.

“What are we supposed to do now?” Captain Baker asked, staring up.

“We need to catch them and bring them back here. The Doctor--both Doctors, perhaps, two are better than one--we need to force them to cooperate.”

“How can we do that?” Lt. Carolina Stuart, asked eying him.

“We need to focus on his companions--Richard, Amy Pond, and me.”

“You? You would even--”

“He’s future me, not past me.” Kaliya said. “I can harm him. I can even--difference is, it’s not me.” Kaliya insisted. “It’s a different me. And now, if I survive, I can live--far longer than he can. And I will change into him--whatever happens, happens.”

***

“How much did you hear?” The 8th Doctor asked as they crawled through the air duct.

“Everything.” The 11th Doctor said.

“This could be--”

“Big, I know.” The 11th Doctor said, smiling weakly. “I was there. You were there, to be more exact.”

The 8th Doctor shuddered. “How much have you seen?”

“Everything.” He muttered, grim, and stopped. “How are you doing?” He asked, a little softer as he turned around to look at himself.

“Good--considering.”

“Great, let’s go,” 11 said, crawling away.

“I can’t believe Kaliya has these giant air ducts on his ships!” Richard Myers remarked, turning his head and nearly being scared to death by the presence of Jack.

“I suppose old Me liked to give his prisoners a fighting chance, or young me, to be more exact,” Captain Jack Harkness frowned. “I don’t believe me will give us very many more, though.”

“We have outsmarted him-you for now, but don’t get cocky!” The 11th Doctor called back. “We have a long way to go.” He said.

***

“Feeling better?” River Song asked as they sat by the fire, eating some dry food-bar and slurping up soup.

“I don’t know, a little bit better, but still--” Amy Pond sneezed. “Excuse me.”

“Don’t mention it. So, what’s been going on with you?” River Song asked Amy Pond.

“I’ve been traveling with the Doctor for awhile now.” Amy said. “We’ve--been to Venice, seen Van Gogh, argued with some Silurians.” She chuckled and sighed. “I don’t--” She sneezed again.

“Excuse you again,” River Song said, handing over a tissue. “What about--you’ve met me once, right?”

Amy Pond nodded. “At--”

“Don’t tell me,” River Song said, sighing. “You don’t--know, do you?”

“Know what?” Amy Pond asked.

“Never mind.” River Song said.

“So--how are you doing?” Amy Pond asked River Song.

“Fine.” She said, looking up. “I’ve been studying.”

“Studying? For what, you’re--” Amy Pond paused. “You look different.”

“I’m younger.” River Song said, looking at her. “I’m--you met me in my future.”

“Your future?” Amy Pond gasped. “You--at the--you said you were a doctor of some kind, a—paleontologist, or archeologist--”

“Archeologist--” River Song laughed. “That sounds good. That sounds--right, to me. I am studying to earn my degree. Haven’t exactly settled on my course, but--you’re right, I am going to be an archeologist. Studying the future through the past.” She said.

Amy Pond blinked and shook her head. “I hope I haven’t disturbed anything time-wise with you, the Doctor would hate that--”

“It’s all right, I needed a little inspiration.” River Song said, and sighed. “Besides, my future--it’s uncertain. I can feel it. Something has gone wrong in--my past somehow. I need to—adjust myself to this. Hopefully it’s only temporary. Hopefully it’s not--going to unravel everything.” She said, and shuddered. “Everything’s gone to pieces.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but are you okay?” Amy Pond asked, staring at her.

“I’m fine, thank you, stop--asking me that.” She said, and shuddered again. “What are you doing here? In this--time frame,” She said.

“I got dumped out here when the TARDIS went bonkers--again. Even more so than usual,” Amy Pond muttered. “I was--the Doctor and I had picked up Jack. Captain Jack Harkness, have you ever met him?”

“No, but I’ve heard of him,” River Song said, looking up. “Captain Jack--where was he? Or when was he?”

“Cardiff, 42 AD—or CE—he was buried.” Amy Pond said.

“Buried...” River Song muttered. “Highly unusual. Irregular, even--” River Song looked up. “Captain Jack--Amy, what was happening when you all were in the TARDIS?”

Amy Pond sighed. “The Doctor said we were supposed to leave him behind, buried. We weren’t supposed to have dug him up. But I said--then we were attacked by Reapers, or whatever. We were thrown. From the TARDIS. To--when and where is this?” She asked.

“Captain Jack...” River Song said, staring up at the sky. “Everything’s gone wrong. This is different, this is--not what it’s supposed to be.” River Song muttered. “We’ve got to--” She frowned.

“What’s the matter? Why are you--why do you keep looking up at the sky?” Amy Pond asked.

“I am considering.” River Song said.

“Considering what?”

“Calling for help.” River Song said, staring at her pack.

“What--why--why don’t you do that? Let’s call, let’s--” Amy Pond looked up. “Is there a spaceship up there?”

“Amy, I don’t want--”

“Could Jack and the Doctor--” Amy asked—

There was a flash of light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nightmare Child--definitely knew I had to include something like that when it came to the Time War. Sorry if I made it a little strange, using prions like that. And Amy Pond and River--I couldn't help putting in those moments when it seemed like River might spill her secret, or something like that. Anyway--hopefully update will come sooner, and hopefully I will have more of an idea of what I want to do then. See you later, don't forget to leave remarks--might lead to some improvement!


	9. The Peacemakers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We've got some trouble coming your way, and everyone is getting into it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two parts, one with the Doctor and his gang, then Amy and River--we've got some issues to settle and discuss, not to mention a bit of an apology. Let's get started. (Sorry about delay, but I did this chapter in a day. More to come?)

Chapter 9: The Peacemakers

Boom! Bang! The two Doctors, Richard, and Captain Jack were thrown to the side of the air duct as a shockwave echoed behind them, the Sundialer rocked by the reverberation.

“We’re under attack!” Both Doctors cried out in unison as an alarm rang in the distance.

“Daleks?” Captain Jack and Richard both said.

“Who else do you think?” The Doctors both said and then looked at one another.

“Let’s not do that again.” 11 said.

“Agreed.” 8th told him, and then turned to face the other two. “We have to get out of here. The air vents are vulnerable, especially since Kaliya probably knows we’re up here somewhere.”

“He’s probably distracted taking care of this emergency.” Jack said.

“Likely, but you know yourself best—would be very distracted for long?” 8th asked him.

“We took two left turns, a right, snaked along a juddering branch, then slipped down a shaft—my fault--left again, right, twice over a swoop--where are we now?” 11 asked.

“By my calculations, I believe we’re close to the communication office.” 8 said.

“Aren’t I clever?” 11 smiled.

Captain Jack was checking the gun he had stolen from the Judoon. “Enough talk, time for us to be quiet—we’ve got some sneaking around to do.” He whispered as Richard undid some of the screws from the vent lid. With Richard’s help, Jack lowered himself down to check the surroundings, and then helped Richard down. “Nice muscles.” Jack commented to Richard before they helped the Doctors down.

“Oh, give it a rest, Jack.” The 11th Doctor said.

“Pardon?” 8th asked, glancing over at him.

“Never--never mind.” 11th said, shaking his head. Another vibration rocked the ship, and another alarm rang. “We have got to find Amy.” He said, glancing around. “We might as well try the communications office, see if we can hail your research assistant.” He turned to 8. “Do you happen to have your TARDIS abroad, or--”

“Sorry, she’s on the planet.” 8th said.

“Next time, keep your TARDIS with you!” Jack exclaimed at the Doctors, holding the gun up. “This is the last time I go on an adventure with you without your TARDIS close at hand!” He remarked to Richard, “The last time this happened, we--”

“Jack, please, spoilers.” 11 hissed.

“Sorry.” Jack said, rolling his eyes. “Come on, Richard.” Jack and Richard advanced towards the communications office, while the Doctors followed close behind, glancing around to make sure they weren’t spotted, though everybody else was probably on the other side of the ship. Richard knocked on the door.

“Hello, could I bother you with--” Richard started to say to the officer at the door, but then Jack knocked him out. Richard silenced the other officer before he could press the alarm button,  threw him out, though all alarms were ringing abroad ship right now.

Richard and Jack stormed in, searching for any surveillance cameras to shut off or loop feed on as the Doctors stashed away the officers, locked the door, and went to the controls.

“Hang on, there’s a message.” 8th started to say, switching channels. “Apparently the communications officers have been so focused on directing messages to all of the people abroad the Sundialer that they have neglected--”

“Come in, come in, Sundialer Station 10, can you hear me?” The voice on the other end said, panting, as the 11th Doctor perked his head up. “This is--”

“River Song!” The 11th Doctor cried, grabbing the microphone.

“You know her?” The 8th Doctor asked.

“She’s--” The 11th Doctor stopped, and stared at himself. “She’s your research assistant?” He exclaimed as River Song was saying, “We are under attack, I repeat--”

He flicked on the switch to talk. “River Song, this is your Doctor! You have got some explaining to do!”

“We are--” River stopped. “Doctor!” She exclaimed as something blew up in the distance.

“Doctor!” Another voice exclaimed as well, and the 11th Doctor and Jack smiled.

“Amelia Pond!” The 11th Doctor cried. “This is—what’s happening?” He asked urgently as he realized what was going on.

“We are under attack! What else have I been repeating for the last--” River Song blustered, and then huffed. “Amy and I are running back to the TARDIS, the other Doctor’s TARDIS.” She said. “Sorry about this. I found her in the swamp.”

“I nearly got sucked by a slug!” Amy called, then yelped. “What do you mean by--”

“My TARDIS is not strong enough to withstand a Dalek attack, not for very long.” The 8th Doctor was whispering to himself.

“Amy--now Daleks are attacking--” River Song said.

“Hold on, hold on,” The 11th Doctor said, pausing. “Keep going for the TARDIS.” He said. “You’ll be safe there, for awhile. We have some trouble up here.”

“You want us to rescue you?” River Song laughed. “Oh, that’s just--”

“Never mind! Keep going! See you soon!” The 11th Doctor said.

“Did River Song just say--” The 8th Doctor was saying.

“Goodbye, my love.” River Song told 11 just before he switched off.

He hesitated, glancing at the others stunned into silence. “Good-bye, River, Amy,” He added and then switched off. “River...I don’t know how to describe her.” He said to the others still watching him.

“Doctor, Doctor, you just--” Captain Jack laughed harshly. “Don’t break her heart,” He added, and then ducked down to fumble with some controls.

“I don’t believe it’s terribly wrong.” 8th added, glancing over at Jack. “Matter of fact, I--”

“Never mind that!” 11th Doctor said, shaking his head. “Jack, what are you doing?”

“Trying to find out their position from where the signal was coming from—just in case we have to go after them.” Jack said.

“Should we go after them?” Richard asked, looking around. “Or wait for the TARDIS?”

“Wait for the TARDIS? Why--” 8th Doctor started to say.

“Waiting for the TARDIS would take too long,” The 11th Doctor said, “But then River Song can pilot it extremely well. Too extremely well for my tastes,” He added, glancing at himself. “She knows how to turn off the braking.” He hissed as they heard another explosion.

“The braking? You mean--” 8th made the wheezing noise common to the TARDIS upon arrival.

“That’s it.” 11 said.

“The braking? You mean after all this time--” Jack laughed. “That was just the brakes malfunctioning?”

“I always knew there was something wrong there.” Richard said, shaking his head.

“What kind of woman is she?” Jack asked, almost hopefully.

“She--” The 11th Doctor hesitated. “I don’t know, to be honest. I’ve met her several times before, the first time being in her future, my past, and--she died then.” He stopped as the others were silenced. “She was Professor River Song then.” He said in the silence. “I’ve met her several times since then in younger years, she’s getting younger, and she--she knew my name, then, in the past, her future.” He said, looking up at himself. “I don’t know when I told her. Or--” Why? Why wasn’t exactly the question.

The 8th Doctor stared silently at him.

“I really would like to meet her.” Jack said. “Even if her heart does belong to you.” He muttered. “I’ve got the position—now what?”

“Now--” The 11th Doctor started to say when there was a pounding on the door. They stopped talking.

“Doctor? Doctor?” A familiar voice said. “Richard? Jack?” He drew out the last word. “I’ve got ‘Wally’—and Lt. Stuart and Captain Baker here!” He exclaimed. “We really would like to discuss with you your seizure of the communications room. We can’t communicate with each other adequately enough to discuss the problems we have dealing with this emergency if you have control of one of the main arteries of--”

“Listen to us!” 11th Doctor said, standing up and turning around to press the intercom switch. “We really do appreciate the state of emergency you have to deal with here, but--” He hesitated a moment and turned off the intercom. “Back me up here,” He hissed at the others.

‘Wally’ was banging on the door, trying to break it down.

“Maybe we should surrender.” The 8th Doctor was saying.

“What?” 11 cried.

“We should try to work it out.” He remarked. “I have to stay here, after all, and continue fighting alongside of Captain Kaliya, or argue with him about the Nightmare Child, while you and Captain Jack and Amy and, apparently, my research assistant River Song have got to leave here. This isn’t—this was your War, but now it’s not. It’s my War now, and I have to deal with it my way. Your appearances have already strained things enough that—I don’t know if I can talk Kaliya now out of using the Nightmare Child. I might have to flee with Richard here, once River Song arrives with the TARDIS.” He said.

The 11th Doctor looked down. “I’m sorry, I just--I just got carried away with things a bit, I suppose.” He added. “Could have handled things better.”

The 8th Doctor nodded. “That’s right, but you handled it admirably.” He remarked. “Now should we go help them deal with the Daleks?”

The 11th Doctor nodded. “Let’s do that.” He said, turning to the door. He pressed the intercom switch. “On second thought, if you allowed us to surrender, would you promise that our lives would be spared long enough to help you deal with the Daleks before you dealt with us?” He asked.

There was silence on the other side. Finally, Captain Kaliya yelled, “All right! We’ll spare your lives, just this once, to help us with the Daleks!”

11th Doctor nodded. “Sounds good to me,” He muttered, opening the door as Captain Jack and Richard dropped their weapons, everyone inside the communications room raising their hands up in surrender as Captain Kaliya, Wally the Judoon, Lt. Stuart and Captain Baker strode in.

 

***

"Come on, Amy!" River cried, dodging splurts of fire falling from the sky.

Amy tried to keep up, but she kept asking, "How do you know which way it is? It's almost impossible--"

"I have a good sense of direction!" River Song told her. "We're not that far--watch out!"

She pushed Amy low to the ground as they looked up. "It's searching for lifeforms like us," River whispered, glancing up at the Dalek hovering in the distance.

Amy shivered. "How well can it sense things?"

"Pretty well." River Song said, eying the ground before them. "The TARDIS is out there, cloaked, but--it can be detected with the right equipment." She said.

"What is going on here?" Amy Pond muttered to herself.

River glanced at her. "You mean--you don't know." She said.

"Know what?" Amy Pond asked, annoyed.

"Shush! This is--" She glanced around. "The Time War."

"What, the Time War that--" Amy Pond blinked. "The Time Lords and the Daleks fought in, and the Time Lords, with the exception of the Doctor, were wiped out?"

"Pretty much." River Song said. "Most of the Daleks were wiped out, too, though a hardy bunch did survive."

"Isn't this supposed to be one of those things the Doctor can't travel back to?" She asked. "He talked about this once--"

"Yes, but there are holes, Amy Pond, holes that some can slip through--I found one, and followed it through to see what was on the other side. It's not a pretty situation." River Song remarked.

"Has the Dalek gone yet?" Amy asked.

"I think it has..." River Song frowned. "Come on, just a few more meters," She muttered, rushing out with Amy right behind her.

They nearly ran into the TARDIS, but River had her hand held out in front of her, and they stopped just before banging into the door. River fumbled at the lock, and Amy looked up into the sky. "Hurry, I think I--"

"Got it!" River cried, pushing Amy into the TARDIS, and following after.

"Is--is this...River, where are we?" Amy Pond asked, gazing around at the elaborate library with bookshelves, rugs, an old-fashioned phone, ambient lighting, chairs, tables, books scattered about the place, and at the center of it all, a mechanical monstrosity of spider legs surrounding a rather octagonal console on top of a short platform, with a little bubble for the oscillator. "This isn't the Doctor's TARDIS!" She cried.

"Oh...I forgot to mention..." She sighed. "Amy, sit down a minute."

Amy crossed to the other side of the room, and flopped down. "I'm listening." She said huffily.

"Amy, the Doctor--he can change appearances, as he told you about this?"

Amy shrugged. "I think I might have heard him mention that."

"Well, so can the TARDIS, and--after awhile, things change, a lot." River Song added, looking around. "This is the TARDIS, but not quite the one you know. This is a past TARDIS, Amy, and I've been traveling with a past Doctor."

She looked around. "So this is what the TARDIS looked like before--how different is he, past Doctor, to current Doctor?" She asked.

"Quite different, as a matter of fact, but still very much the same." River Song smiled. "You might like him. Of course, he's not the Doctor you know and--" She shook her head. "Excuse me, I--" She turned away, and leaned against one of the metal support beams.

"What is it, River?" Amy asked, looking up at her. "What's bothering you?"

"It's nothing, I--" River Song sighed. "Amy, do you ever feel like there is something missing? Or someone, missing from your life?"

Amy frowned and shook her head. "No, I've--I've got everything I need, I've got my Doctor, I'm--I'm happy." She said. "Even when I'm in danger, I'm--I'm happy to be alive, with him. What are you talking about?" She asked.

River Song sighed. "Never mind, then."

"No, this has got to be stopped, this is--I don't understand what is the matter with you and the Doctor, you two seem to be nosing around something to do with me, and I'm--sick and tired of it, to be honest. I don't know what's the matter, but I'm telling you, nothing's wrong. Everything's right."

"No, it's not, Amy--not for a long time." River Song said, shaking her head. The TARDIS trembled. "I think they're coming closer." River Song said, looking up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun, right? Hope you enjoyed, probably wasn't worth the wait, but oh well. I think things are on track for a good display of a finish. Please comment/give kudos. I like banter, as you can probably see.


End file.
